Riverboats Revitalize Downtowns

August 29, 1993|By Michael A. Lev, Tribune Staff Writer.

The day the glitzy aqua-and-white Northern Star riverboat casino docked in downtown Joliet, the vista along the Des Plaines River in this tired Rust Belt town improved dramatically. Now there was something else to see besides the hardscrabble towboats and their grimy-looking deckhands.

Less than four months later-and a year after another boat, the Empress, docked in Joliet a few miles south of downtown-it's clear there are changes on land too: 2,000 new jobs and $1.5 million in new monthly tax revenue to the city. And most visible, there is new life in what was a moribund downtown.

Since Harrah's Northern Star started cruising in May from its downtown mooring, several new restaurants have opened or announced plans to open; the first new downtown office building in 20 years is nearing completion; and pedestrians have begun to walk the streets again.

The positive changes aren't just significant for Joliet. Last week, the Illinois Gaming Board awarded the final available riverboat license to Elgin, another Rust Belt river city struggling to resurrect its troubled downtown.

The new business coming to Joliet suggests gaming can play a vital role in the revitalization of downtowns that have seen better days. Indeed, it's also happening in Aurora, another river town where a casino opened in June.

"Nothing else conceived of could attract 5,000 people a day to downtown Aurora," said Paul Borek, an economic development official in Aurora, home to the Hollywood Riverboat Casino. "It's clearly the economic development catalyst the (riverboat) legislation intended it be."

Borek, executive director of the Aurora Economic Development Commission, said that since the Hollywood casino arrived on the Fox River downtown, several new restaurants have opened, joint promotions with the Paramount Arts Centre have brought thousands to see Frank Sinatra and others perform, and existing businesses have perked up.

But impressive boat attendance and new restaurants don't guarantee that downtowns like Joliet's or Aurora's or Elgin's are destined to become Michigan Avenue West.

Atlantic City never made the comeback casinos were supposed to support. And in Joliet, for example, there are already local business owners who believe that the money associated with gaming won't leave the boats.

"I hate to be so negative, but I feel like calling Elgin people and saying: `Don't invest all your money!' " said Jackie Kibler, owner of the four-year-old Chicago Street Bar and Grill.

Kibler said that while her restaurant is only a three-block stroll from the boat, hardly anyone finds it. She said boat employees, who park away from downtown and are shuttled in also don't think to patronize her.

The story is different and considerably happier at George Panagiotopoulos' Central Bar and Grill, which is located less than a block from the Northern Star. Panagiotopoulos said he spent thousands renovating the restaurant after the boat arrived, brightening the interior design and adding a new kitchen. Business quickly doubled.

"Very, very good to see nice people walking the street," he said. "For 15 years, you saw no one."

Certainly it's too early to make final judgments about the contribution that riverboat gaming can make to the future of downtown Joliet, Aurora or Elgin.

Joliet city officials say they haven't figured out how many patrons the boats will regularly attract, although they are more than pleased with the 5,000 to 7,000 daily attendance figures. Those numbers will jump when each complex adds a second boat later this year. Officials also say it will take some time for regulars to get bored with Harrah's pavilion restaurants-which haven't even opened yet-and start to wander into town. But they also say emphatically that the Northern Star doesn't represent Joliet's only hope for turning around its downtown prospects.

Indeed, the city has spent several years following an elaborate downtown redevelopment plan that was drawn up before officials even knew they could woo a casino.

"We don't view the boat as the economic savior of Joliet," said Robert D. Herrick, an official at the Joliet/Will County Center for Economic Development Foundation. "Our goal is to recession-proof Will County and this is part of the economic mix."

Using the redevelopment plan, $15 million in bond money and other funds unrelated to the casino, Joliet has made major strides in cleaning up its downtown. It renovated the train station, the library and a riverside park. And many downtown sidewalks have or will have fanciful brick patterns and antique lighting.

While the riverboat isn't responsible for any of these changes, Don Fisher, Joliet's planning director, said that the Harrah's complex could allow the city to finish its 20-year master plan in half the time.